Visiting Rotarian Paul Fowler, RC Melbourne. Paul met President Neville Taylor at the latest Bunnings sizzle, where he failed to buy a sausage. His career was oil, mining, forestry and wineries. (almost visiting) Alok Beswala, RC Mumbai Western Elite (sends greetings). Alok is in Melbourne for the International Fellowship of Cricketing Rotarians world festival.
Truth or Tale - John Ilott John told the true story about playing trombone in an amateur band at one of the concert halls of the Sydney Opera House. Announcements Doug Robertson spruiked the multi-district conference – Feb 15-17, book this month. The Interact Youth Conference is on at the same time. Peter Duras reported 9 sizzles in December, including 4 in a row. Two this year have raised $1600. Five more are already scheduled at Port Melbourne (Friday 22nd February, Saturday 9th March and Friday 10th May) and Collingwood (Saturday 30th March and Saturday 13th April). Please let Peter know when you can help out. Suvam Ganguli spruiked the Diversity Week Club Breakfast on Tuesday 19th March. Details pending. Warwick Cavell says the club has nixed corporate membership in favor of partnership with mid-tier for-profit corporates (top-tier ones are unpromising). Commbank is willing to assist on strategy/implementation including a full-day workshop on Thursday 14th February. Warwick asked members to let him know of smaller businesses who might be interested in participating in the workshop. Mary Voice spruiked the Golf event 29 March at Ivanhoe course, with things like bocce, putting and croquet for non-golfers. President Neville spruiked the following coming events: our Docklands affiliate with 3 inductions made or pending and promotions planned at Docklands markets. Rotary e-club of Melbourne meeting via Zoom software on Wed 6th February at 8pm, with past RI Director Noel Trevaskis speaking. International Women’s Day Breakfast at Palladium on Thursday 7th March via Kerry Kornhauser. A volunteer is required to book a table. Peninsula BBQ at Lorraine Meehan’s place on Sunday 17th March.
Member Speakers - Roger Thornton and Brett Jones With six others, the two did the 135km out of 231km walk of 13 days last July to get ideal weather, walking from Alice Springs to Mt Sonder. It was a mixture of day walks and pack walks, with sub-zero at breakfast and cloudless blue skies and gorgeous mountain colors thereafter. The many hikes up ranges, including the 700m Mt Sonder, were rewarded with vast views from the crests. Roger provided some geology nous, mentioning that the younger rocks were 850m years old and old rocks were 2.2b years old. The area used to be of the height of the Himalayas. Camp stops were always adequate. Water tank taps had CCTV cover so if any silly person left the tap on, rangers could come to turn it off. Phones worked from every crest but not below, while radios were not reliable. Brett said the vastness was striking and only comparable to being out sailing in the deep ocean. The party had no casualties. They heard a lady from another group had suffered a collapsed car after a camel sat on it. Roger and Brett’s photos of the Namatjira-like landscape had us all gasping at the beauty. Great talk, chaps. |